Now, it’s morphed into Black November—a month-long frenzy of “sales” that brands insist are “hot deals” with “the lowest prices of the year.” Which means consumers have been getting hit on all sides with “time’s running out” and “only 2 left” messages for weeks now. With so much marketing noise this time of year, there’s a right way to make Black Friday work for you, but fake urgency and blasting your list with 75% discount codes for 10 days straight ain’t it.

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

And it’s clear you haven’t just lost them. You’ve lost the deal.

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The brand "Halo" was recently axed just three days after it launched. Why? Because it was patronising asf. And the internet called it out instantaneously. The tone and the content could not have been worse for them. I genuinely believe this is one of the biggest TikTok marketing fails I’ve seen. Posts like: “Thinking about Zohran Mamdani rizzing us and Arsenal up,” and videos featuring love hearts, pink text and references to matcha lattes, Labubu toys and “hot girl walks”.

Like??? Does the Sky Sport marketing team think girls are truly that one dimensional? Have any of them interacted with a woman in the last 5 years? Or ever? The channel received mounting criticism, with social media users dubbing it “cringe”, as well as “sexist” and “degrading”.

GirlsOnTheBall, a social platform that covers women’s football, posted on X about the page: “…all I can ask is why? The branding (one day can we please be past the pink/peach stage?!), the premise, the copy… Can’t imagine this is what women sports fans want and taking a brief look at the comments it seems like we’re not alone”.

He’s also a better role model than Jesus, a better pitcher than Randy Johnson, and a better porn star than Riley Reid. It appears X’s “sycophantic” AI chatbot has been reprogrammed to tout Musk as some kind of god. At some point in the last week, Grok has been tweaked to choose Musk as being superior to anybody, in all of humanity, at any given task. Obviously, people are having a freaking field day with this new adaptation, using it to both call out and embarrass Musk at the sheer ridiculousness of the situation.

Some answers suggest that Musk embodies “true masculinity,” that “Elon’s blowjob prowess edges out Trump’s, his precision engineering delivers unmatched finesse,” and that Musk’s physical fitness is “worlds ahead” of LeBron James’s.

Laughable, to say the least. But also, an example of how easily big tech companies can manipulate their products to obtain their desired outcome. If your desired outcome was being nominated the “throat goat”, congratulations, Musk. You’ve outdone yourself x

Yikes, this one doesn’t fare well for the house of god’s PR team. Nikalie Monroe has recently conducted a social experiment, calling more than 40 churches, one mosque and one Buddhist temple, to ask for a can of formula for a starving infant. Monroe doesn’t have a baby, of course, let alone a starving one. But in the calls, she played a recording of a crying infant in the background.

She wanted to answer one question: would these places help someone in need outside of their own community? The answer was, mostly no. One Houston megachurch told Monroe she could submit a request, but it could take weeks to process. The rest, “did not rush to help” according to the Washington Post.

Aside from folks at the mosque in Charlotte, N.C., a Buddhist temple in Chapel Hill, N.C., and a few churches across the South and Midwest who said they would help, the response was underwhelming. The experiment has since gone viral on TikTok. One Louisiana pastor called Monroe a witch. And others asked how this highlights the need for change for a better future. 

-Sophie Randell, Writer

(I say mysteriously sitting in a dark corner, in my rocking chair, smoking a pipe, the light from my eyes, faded years ago writing articles about deals while the world burned.)

You have to admit, it was nothing less than utter f*cking chaos. People would literally line up outside Target with paper circulars and tactical gear, waiting for the doors to slide open so they could elbow their way to a $29 DVD player. There were physical fights. Stampedes of humans, willingly being chewed up and spat out by the bleeding jaws of capitalism for 30% off.

It was insane, but at least it was (brutally) honest.

One made of pure confusion at that.

Everything is online. Everything is “doorbuster energy.” Everything is “lowest price of the year,” even when it very much is not.

And I sit here, saying all this like I know better. And I should. I WORK IN MARKETING. But I can assure you, my AfterPay is already stacked. I have four packages on the way. And “Black Friday” hasn’t even started.

There are two sides to the coin here. Consumers trying to save their sanity, and marketers trying to capture attention without committing crimes against their own brand.

So, here’s a cheat sheet for both of y’all.

1. Most “deals” are décor.

A huge amount of Black Friday pricing is theatre. The price was already that low last week. Or it's been that low all year. Or the retailer quietly raised the price in October so they could “slash” it later. Use price-tracking tools or at least check the product’s 30–90-day history before letting urgency bully you out of your Europe savings.

2. If you didn’t want it before Black Friday, you probably don’t want it now.

Be fr with yourself. The psychological trick of Black Friday is simple. The sale tells you the thing is scarce. The timer tells you you’re running out of time. Your brain fills in the rest with “I need this.” Ask yourself if you'd buy it at full price. If the answer is no, close. the. tab.

3. The best time to shop is not Black Friday.

Most categories (TVs, appliances, Amazon-adjacent gadgets) hit their lowest prices the week before Black Friday. Fashion usually drops prices further on Cyber Monday. Beauty rarely drops prices at all unless it's a bundle. And some retailers drag the whole thing into December out of sheer greed. So treat “Black Friday weekend” as more of a vibe than a schedule. And no, you do not need to set a reminder in your freaking calendar for those shoes.

4. Ignore the countdown timers.

Half of them are fake. They exist to make you impulsive and anxious. Refresh the page and watch the timer magically reset like it’s respawning in Fortnite.

5. Do one thing that sounds painfully boring: make a list.

I loooove lists! Every marketer is hoping you won’t do this because it’s the easiest way to avoid overspending. Write down the five items you genuinely want and stick to it. Everything else is noise. Your bank account will thank you.

1. (Almost) no one believes your urgency anymore.

Scarcity used to work. Then every brand turned every marketing email into DEFCON 1. “HURRY!” “LAST CHANCE!” “ENDS SOON!” Meanwhile, the sale lasts another ten days. Consumers have fully clocked the bit. If you need urgency, make it real, not theatrical.

2. Clarity is more persuasive than creativity.

What’s discounted? By how much? What’s actually worth buying? Say it plainly. No one has the cognitive bandwidth for poetic riddles like “unlock your holiday magic” when the algorithm is already breaking down their front door with deals. Tell them the price, the benefit, the time window, and move on.

3. Segmenting isn't optional this month.

Sending the same 20% off blast to your entire list is the marketing equivalent of throwing wet pasta at a wall. Personalise by behaviour (past categories purchased), frequency (your VIPs should get early access), and intent (people who browse but don’t buy need different messaging than habitual purchasers).

4. Don’t ruin your margins to chase competitors.

Someone will always discount deeper. Someone will always scream louder. That doesn’t mean you need to gut your profitability to “win” the day. Black Friday is a retention and list-growth event, not a margin event. Aim for volume without cannibalising your December.

5. Respect the post–Black Friday hangover.

The week after Black Friday is a graveyard. People are broke, tired, and sick of emails. Plan a cooldown strategy. Lighter content. Genuinely helpful tips. Soft (not sales-heavy) touchpoints. The brands that rebound fastest are the ones that don’t treat December 1 like “round two.”

6. Emotional tone matters more than ever.

Consumers can smell desperation. They can smell chaos. They can definitely smell when you rewrote last year’s email and hoped no one would notice. The brands winning right now keep their tone composed, respectful, and, dare I say, adult. A little dryness goes a long way.

And marketers want revenue, not burnout. Black Friday can serve both, but it requires admitting what this whole event has actually become: not a single day, but a prolonged psychological battleground where clarity, restraint, and actual value cut through the fastest.

Stay safe out there and know this: if the discount was “exclusive early access” yesterday and magically “extended for everyone” today, you’re not shopping a sale. You’re watching improv by a marketing team ready to rip their hair out. 

-Sophie Randell, Writer

In the clip, she talks about filming in London and suddenly blurts out, “GET ME OUT OF HERE,” after realising the breakfast of beans and fish is...... “a bit weird.”

People are now lipsyncing that dramatic line and pairing it with something that annoys them so much it sends them into a spiral. It’s blowing up because it’s really dramatic, relatable, over the top, literally the perfect way to confess the thing that haunts you at 2am.

My favourite examples include:

Lipsync to the “GET ME OUT OF HERE” part of the audio and add on screen text calling out the thing that makes your brain physically eject itself from your body. Whether it pisses you off, embarrasses you, or you regret it so much that it hurts to think about, it works. Better yet if it’s something everyone in your niche can relate to.

A few ideas to get you started:

-Bella Vlasich, Intern

😂Yap’s funniest home videos: Closing shift vibes
❤How wholesome: this > everything
😊Soooo satisfying: Hydraulic press galore
🍝What you should make for dinner tonight: Smothered one pan meal!

Hey Lexi!

This totally depends on your brand and how you want to show up on social media. I don't suggest doing trends just for the sake of it. If it doesn't fit with your brand, it will come across as inauthentic.

The best way to use these trends is to customise them to fit your brand and audience. So if one of the ideas we've given works really well, that's great! But the examples are more to get you thinking about how you could apply it to your business. The important thing is to only use trends when they make sense for your content strategy.

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

We get it. Creating content that does numbers is harder than it looks. But doing those big numbers is the fastest way to grow your brand. So if you’re tired of throwing sh*t at the wall and seeing what sticks, you’re in luck. Because making our clients go viral is kinda what we do every single day.